[wengren]

l have a bottlebrush plant. its about 2 year old. the problem is the leaves have gone brown. the plant is still alive .
should l take all the leaves off or leave them on, should l cut it back.
it looks like the frost has got the leaves . l brought the plant last year so it hasnt flowered for me yet, never grown these plants before so any help would be great. thanks.

[topgardener]

Hi wengren
I think the bottlebrush needs to be kept quite warm as my daughter lives in queensland and she has them in her garden, it is very tropical there.
hope this helps
Tony

[Diy-king]

Hi Wengren

I have been growing bottlebrushes for a couple of years now, growing cuttings and training into standards as well as bush plants.
They can withstand the cold and some frost, I left one out this year and it survived with only a frw crinkled leaves. During the sumer they like to have plenty of water but in the winter most of them go in the greenhouse and I let them dry out a bit. Some of them have gone a little yellow but I have taken them out of the greenhouse now watered and given a little feed (fish, blood and bone). If left they should recover and when new shoots start to apear I will cut out any dead. Bye the way all mine are kept in pots, repotting to a larger pot as the roots grow.

Hope this is of some use to you

[Paul Plots]

I've heard that they are quite hardy but dislike having their roots in too much wet when it is also cold.

Knowing this did not stop me loosing mine in the middle of last summer - no idea what happened to it apart from the fact that it took the long trip to the compost heap!

I've an Aussie friend threatening to send native seeds. Is that allowed?

[Diy-king]

As far as I know getting seed sent from abroad is allowed. Make sure your friend sends you some different colours as it is difficult to get anything other than red unless you spend a lot of money. If you do get some sent over I would love to try them from seed if poss.

[cathangirl]

There was a big campaign last year warning holiday makers NOT to bring back Food, Plants and Seeds from abroad, so it is not really correct to import your own seeds because of possible disease.
cathangirl

[Paul Plots]

As far as I know getting seed sent from abroad is allowed. Make sure your friend sends you some different colours as it is difficult to get anything other than red unless you spend a lot of money. If you do get some sent over I would love to try them from seed if poss.

I'm going to send an email to her in the next few days and if she manages it I'll let you know and happliy send some on.

[Diy-king]

_{I'm going to send an email to her in the next few days and if she manages it I'll let you know and happliy send some on.
[/quote]}

Great that would be very much appreciated. Just PM me for my address when/if you get them.

[SusieQ]

Bottle brushes do like it quite wet during hot spells.  I nearly lost mine a couple of summers ago because it was in a pot and didn't get enough moisture despite being regularly watered.  I put it in the ground and it thrived but I think I have lost it this winter because of the extreme cold.  It is okay to -5 degrees but this winter the temperatures dropped way below that.  I still live in hope that it will survive but the leaves have browned as yours have and snapping twigs has shown no trace of green.

I hope yours makes it, wengren.